Entering India

Namaste!

By this stage we have started to wonder whether we should be trying to get through borders as quickly as possible, or whether the continuous offers of cups of tea, biscuits, soft drinks, cakes, and conversations with the border officials that slow us down are part of the experience that we are meant to be savouring? Of course the India border was no exception. We always get special treatment as we have to go to different people than everyone else to sort out the vans' paperwork, and often we are the only people in the book that day. So in a way I don't really blame the officials for wanting to make it last as long as possible! Friendly as it was, the fact was that we still had the full days drive to Delhi to complete, and once again we didn't escape the border until the afternoon.

But excuse us for being just a little bit excited.... we have just driven into India! India!! India!!! In 5 weeks!!!! We really can't believe that we have come all this way in our van in such a short time, but it really feels like a major goal has been achieved, and a huge landmark on our journey. We have already driven more than half the distance we have to drive to New Zealand, but we have 3 times as much time to do the rest, so we are really looking forward to taking things a bit slower from here on in...and the first stage of our new found 'slowness' is a stop in Delhi with a couple from our home church in Hastings - Steve and Lori. We hadn't actually met Steve before, and had only met Lori once, but they openly offered their home up to us, and it really felt like we were at home as it was so relaxing. It was also great to have air conditioning, and we wondered how we ever coped without it, as we nearly pass out whenever we go outside now!

Our arrival in Delhi was predictably late at night, and apparently just after the curfew after which lorries are allowed inside the city. That later explained why we were in a complete stand-still jam with countess trucks squeezing us in from all sides. Never-the-less we arrived after having driven over 2000 miles on bad roads in the last 5 days, and just flopped. We stayed with Steve and Lori for another 5 days recovering, as Rhona had started to feel a little dodgy. It was just what we needed.

So we had some time to stock up, sort some things out with the van, and make some plans. We are going to fly over to Nepal to visit the house of our friends David and Deepa who are living in Hastings, but are pastors of a church in Katmandu. We decided that we wouldn't go trekking there, as we wanted to, as the monsoon has hit early, and it is not a very ideal time for it. Instead we are going to head north to Kashmir in the van when we return back to Delhi, and go right up into the Himalayas. The mountains provide a barrier and once you've driven over a 5000m pass, the rains don't get any further than that. So we will be escaping the heat and the rain in one foul swoop, before driving down to the south of India.

We have also just found out some exciting/unexpected news this week, and that is that Rhona is pregnant!!! So that explained why she has been feeling so rough! She is only about 9 weeks down the line, but we thought that we should let everyone know so that you can pray for us! So no more bungee jumping, climbing or scuba diving for her which I know she is devastated about! We will continue our journey as planned, and it will be a very well travelled baby!

So until next time, thanks for reading, we hope you are enjoying hearing about our adventures, and thanks to everyone who has left us messages, we really appreciate it! Ta for now xx

Total distance driven: about 8500 miles

Max Temp: 42 degrees C

Diesel: 45p/litre